Martinsburg woman alleges shingles vaccine caused viral infection

MARTINSBURG – A Martinsburg couple alleges the wife was injured by a shingles vaccine.

Donna Aikens and Willard Aikens filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against Merck & Co. Inc. and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. alleging negligence and other counts.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that on Sept. 28, 2016, Donna Aikens was injected with the defendants' Zostavax, a shingles vaccine. She alleges the vaccine caused her to contract a strain of herpes zoster and she developed a rash, developed hearing loss in one ear and palsy.

The plaintiffs hold Merck & Co. Inc. and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp responsible because the defendants allegedly failed to exercise reasonable care in the design, manufacture, sale and testing of the vaccine and that they allegedly should have known it could cause a viral infection.

The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek compensatory damages, restitution and disgorgement of profits, attorney's fees, costs, economic damages, punitive damages and all further relief the court deems just and proper. They are represented by Michael H. Bowman of Sadaka Associates LLC in Englewood, New Jersey.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 3:18-cv-00143-GMG

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